THE RYDGES POST

I do understand how irritating reformed smokers can be when they rave about the perils of smoking BUT I couldn’t help noticing that another Marlboro Man has bitten the dust with the cause attributed to tobacco use. And you will be pleased to know that I resisted the cheap title of Marlboro Manslaughter.

Eric Lawson, who played the rugged ciggie-sucking cowboy in the late 1970’s, succumbed to the drawback of respiratory failure following a nasty serving of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).

According to reports other Marlboro Men to shuffle off wheezing were David Millar, a MM in the 50’s, who died of emphysema in 1987; Wayne McLaren who succumbed to lung cancer in 1992 aged 52; David McLean and Richard Hammer (both MMs from the 70’s) also died from lung cancer in the 1990’s.

I watched the wonderful 1942 flick Casablanca again recently. Boy, did they get through some cigarettes! It’s a wonder Rick didn’t have a line like, “I stub my butt out for nobody”. And I only just realised that when Bogart was my age, he’d been dead for two years (throat cancer). I found this useful fact on a site that lists 227 famous people who died because they smoked.

Two people on that list who died of lung cancer were Bea Benaderet and Jean Vander Pyl – Bea was the voice of Betty Rubble and Jean the voice of Wilma Flintstone. Jean’s son had this to say... “Everybody on the Flintstones smoked and all of them ended up dying of smoking-related diseases... That little cute laugh that Betty and Wilma did with their mouths closed? They came up with that because when they normally laughed, because they were smokers, they coughed.”

Now, research has shown that pointing out that smoking kills people is not a great deterrent for young people because they consider themselves bullet-proof. Far better to tell girls that it makes hair stink and prematurely ages skin. And for boys, point out that the cost saving from not smoking for three years could buy a new car. Drive away. No more to pay. You listening, Jon?